In fact, I've lost a few weekends to things that have nothing to do with fishing, all during this incredible time of year, when I should have my head in the clouds.
Regardless, I have been out a few times. For the last official week of spring, Holdsworth and our friend Serge joined me for a day on the Manti.
There was still a fair amount of snow in the higher reaches and I ended up helping someone get their truck pulled out of a large snowbank that they tried to power through. That put a dent in my fishing time but I was glad to be able to help. I've been stuck before.
Once I was actually fishing, things were slow after a couple of good brookies from shore.
On the tube, it took quite awhile to find willing fish. A few were caught, but it wasn't fast fishing.
The fish I caught were pretty nice though. All brookies, all over 16".
On our way out of that area, we stopped at another pond along the way, hoping to catch a few tiger trout. A couple of small ones came in for myself and Aaron while Serge kept trying.
The shoreline had a lot of grass extending out a few feet into the lake. Still wearing my waders, I carefully moved closer to the edge of the grass and dangled my jig straight down, only to watch it vanish in a flash of gold.
What a fun little ride that was! Catching nice fish at my feet is something I can really tap a toe to.
Right after my nice tiger, and just before we left, Serge caught his very first tiger trout. Way to go, Serge!
For my next trip, the first official trip of summer, my family was in need of a getaway. We collected Aaron, our camping gear, and set our course for the mountains of central Utah.
At my family's request, we chose a lake with a lot of nice campsites close to the water. One of the first spots that popped into my head was Pete's Hole Reservoir, which I hadn't visited for 9 years.
We had many sites to choose from and eventually settled on a perfect spot with a nice, flat area, great fire pit, and lots of shade. This spot was just beyond vehicle access, but the privacy was worth the extra walking to bring the gear over.
After camp was set up, Aaron and I hit the lake for a couple of hours, where we caught plenty of small tiger trout and sickly little rainbows with no fins. The fish were not overly exciting, but it was fun to have a leisurely float on a peaceful lake.
The next day, we thought it would be fun to walk the trail to Academy Mill Reservoir, only a gentle mile away. Along the route, Aaron and I stopped to explore some beaver ponds that looked fishy. My wife and kids waited under the shade of a large tree in a meadow, next to the trail.
The ponds weren't very fishy, but Aaron was able to trick a wild cutthroat right away.
We fished a few other ponds up that hillside, but didn't find anything right away and didn't want to keep my family waiting.
Once we'd arrived at Academy Mill, we saw plenty of surface activity and got busy casting jigs. Pretty little spot.
Jigs were being followed and nipped at, but we weren't getting many hookups from shore. Sonia actually caught the first fish with a silver Vibrax.
Aaron and I found a lot more success once we'd gotten out in our tubes. A couple of spots on the lake were very productive for 12" tigers and a couple of cutthroat.
To our surprise, Aaron hooked a nice tiger along the back edge of the lake and it fought like crazy for a couple of minutes before escaping, right at his tube. Definitely over 20", he was sure. Bummer.
The best I could do thus far was a healthy 15" tiger.
After some time on the water, I kicked my way up into the inlet area and noted a couple of decent fish spooking as I drifted over them.
A good cast against a log farther up brought a quick slam on my jig, which led to a great fight. A larger tiger of 20" filled my hand briefly before flipping itself back into the water.
Nice fish! I was glad to see anything of size in Academy Mill.
With my family's patience running out, it was time to head back home. We decided to abandon the route we'd come in from (through Price) and took the over-the-top route home instead (up and over, then through Ephraim).
Seely Creek looked prime as we ascended Hwy 29, but I didn't stop to fish any of the holes. We settled instead for views of pretty waterfalls and wildflowers in the meadows on top.
It was great to get my family up into the mountains for a camping trip again. This was only our second time ever, normally camping in the desert a few times per year. We'll need to do the mountain family camp out more often.
The first day of July seemed like a great time to go and visit the Boulder Top, where Aaron and I spent a lot of time driving for very little in return from the fish.
Our first lake was a total bust. No bites, no bumps, no nada! We floated for about 2 hours and saw fish, but couldn't get them to eat anything. That was kind of sad for me, as I have only fished that lake twice, still having never caught a fish from it.
Once we'd had enough of the first lake, we endured some very slow fishing in another area, where I was lucky to coerce a grayling to bite a fly, then a couple of small brookies later.
Aaron did a little better than I did for the brookies, but it was somewhat of a disappointment for both of us, I think. Still, a day spent on Boulder is better than a day spent somewhere else, most times. The sky gave us the best rewards, that day.
The next week, Aaron and I decided to camp on Boulder, at a lake neither of us had ever been to. Access required some hiking, via one of several routes to the lake. Before any of that, I needed to satisfy my curiosity about a puddle that normally gets driven by instead of fished.
Though I'm sure larger fish inhabit the lake, getting to them would require floating. With other water on our minds, we fished from shore for a short while and caught a few small brookies.
For our main destination, we chose to take the shortest route to the lake, which also had the least amount of elevation change. Little did we know, that meant 2 of the longest miles my Rodeo has ever had to endure.
Seeing a sight like this is worth some effort, but I'm don't think I'll ever take that "road" again. I've taken some awful roads, especially in the Uintas and on Boulder Mountain, but that one holds the title for the absolute worst I've ever driven.
I'm lucky I still have my Rodeo. Seriously. We had to get out multiple times and make ramps out of rocks so that we could even make it up some of the obstacles.
Most of that two miles was spent wincing in anticipation that I would bottom out and get stuck or that my front end would blow apart. Neither ever happened, but that was more luck than skill. Wow. I still ended up with a deep groove etched along my passenger side as I squeaked by a narrow spot with a fallen tree in the way. Oops.
If anything, the Rodeo is capable of some crazy crawling. Someone with a healthier state of mind would have probably turned back after the first obstacle.
I'm not that someone.
The Rodeo's sole mission is to get me to the water, wherever that may be. Mission complete.
We made it to the parking spot and geared up for our two mile hike, which seemed a bit longer with full packs and floating gear.
The real kicker was the thick blanket of mosquitoes covering us the whole time. They were relentless! I'm usually not on their menu (especially when Aaron's around LOL), but they feasted on both of us throughout our adventure.
After the hike, we setup camp and hit the water! Floating was great because the mosquitoes weren't as interested in us while we were on the lake.
The fishing wasn't easy and the fish weren't especially large, but some healthy brookies were caught and we had a good time in the cold, deep water.
Night fell and we enjoyed a freshly caught brookie and some freeze dried food before retiring.
When morning broke, Aaron had some luck right away, catching several brookies from shore.
That one may have been the best of the trip for either of us.
My luck was somewhat different, only catching one from that lake, before we decided to check another water that was somewhat close by.
The other water was a small weedy pond with colorful tiger trout in it.
Very colorful.
It rained quite hard on us when we arrived and I wasn't sure I'd even fish, but the shower let up eventually and I got to cast for a bit.
Aaron also got big fish honors in the tiny pond, with a decent catch.
Those colors though!
We endured more mosquito hell as we hiked back to the Rodeo, where we then endured more road hell to get down the mountain. The ride down was every bit as bad as the ride up, requiring more rock stacking and road rebuilding.
Along the journey, I had my head out the window so I could watch my tire in a sketchy spot that was stacked up with smaller rocks. While slowly rolling onto that ramp, I heard a loud crash, followed by a cracking sound.
As soon as I could safely put it in park, I jumped out and saw that I had speared my passenger side headlight assembly with the pointy end of a fallen tree that neither of us noticed as I approached.
The bulb was still intact, but the glass was gone. More cosmetic damage on the passenger side for the Rodeo.
It'll wear it like a badge of honor.
We sat out the next week to give my truck and our wallets a break. When it was time to fish again, we set off to find big tiger trout in a fickle pond in central Utah.
The fishing was slow, yet again, and any action was something to be grateful for. One fish decided to play with me within the first hour or two. It was a good fish, but still "small" compared to what I was hoping to find.
By all means, a nice fish anyway. Nice looking too!
Quite awhile went by before I found two smaller fish in consecutive casts, then another long period of nothing.
Eventually, I beached the tube and reverted back to shore fishing, when I caught another good sized tiger.
They do grow nicely. Better than that, even. I'll have to wait until next time to hopefully see the bigger ones.
Aaron almost got skunked, but finally hooked into one, shortly before we left.
Perhaps next time I'll hit it just right and find the real hogs.
On our way home, we made a side trip to explore a canyon I'd never been on the top end of. It was beautiful and we even stopped to fish a small pond I've known about for many years.
Named "Brad's Secret", the beautiful little pond has one deep hole with the rest being shallow and weedy.
Small brookies were available and biting on most casts.
Lot's of fun. I was glad to finally see that side of Six Mile Canyon and to fish at least one of the little ponds in the area. Beautiful country.
The next week was one I skipped, due to a big step I took in my personal life; I quit smoking. Maybe I shouldn't say I quit, but I started my resistance.
Going fishing is often seen as a relaxing way to pass that time and could easily be mistaken as therapeutic during tobacco cessation. That would be a bad assumption in my case. Fishing and long drives are two of my biggest triggers, so it was best to just take it easy at home and try not to freak my family out too much.
My wife and kids were great and, to date, I still haven't had one. Resisting is working so far.
This past week, I did fish and I did take a long drive. The "trigger challenge" was on and I stayed strong throughout. Good for me. This report isn't about me though, it's about fishing!
The long drive into the Uintas on a crummy back road took about 4 hours to complete, then we made a steep descent on foot in order to reach our destination, where we hoped to find nice grayling.
The road had plenty of bad spots and was slow going, but the views were incredible.
We arrived to the lake and readied our tubes. Nothing would stop us.
Actually, we were stopped by what we believe to be a dead lake. No signs of life anywhere to be found. The clear water allowed us to see the bottom throughout the lake and no fish were seen at any point. No surface activity either. The only life I saw in the lake was a really big leech and a few bugs along the shoreline. Bummer!
We ended up hiking another half mile to a nearby lake to salvage the day. The other lake was slow, but I managed to catch a mid-sized brookie and Aaron caught two of them.
Part of exploration is the chance of failure, right? We'll just keep it up and hopefully some treasures are discovered along the way.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
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Congrats on the nice fish. Even more so on beginning the process of quitting. You can do it! Plus, think of the nice equipment or gas money that you will have instead of sending it up in smoke.
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